Transgender rights Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017

Editorial

YEARS after a series of landmark decisions by the Parachinar protest

Editorial
Supreme Court declaring transgender persons as equal
THE simplest way to alienate a people, to make them
citizens with full constitutional rights, Farzana Jan has
feel less equal than others, is to remain indifferent to
become the first person in her community to be issued
their pain and suffering. Pakistan did precisely that
a passport with an X in the gender category, denoting
this Eid, with festivities across most of the country
non-binary gender. This follows the decision earlier
undimmed by the devastating twin bombings last
this year to, for the first time in Pakistan, count the
Friday in the Kurram Agency town of Parachinar. The
transgender population in the national census. These
attack has so far claimed over 70 lives. No senior
progressive moves by the courts and government at the
government official, ostensibly out of security
service of this marginalised group estimated
concerns, has visited the area in the week since. The
anywhere between 80,000 and 500,000 Pakistanis
omission is all the more reprehensible given that the
deserve to be lauded, and must not be relegated to
prime minister cut short his trip to London following
mere tokenisms through the inertia or callousness of
the ghastly oil tanker inferno in Bahawalpur on
the implementing authorities. Despite Nadras
Sunday and rushed back to visit the injured and
announcement of a transgender category for CNICs in
condole with victims families. Anger among locals
2012, for example, many complained of obstacles in
over the security lapse and official indifference
their path to obtaining this essential signifier of
provoked a large number of them to congregate in the
identity. These included outright refusals and ad hoc
towns Shaheed Park for an ongoing sit-in. Tribal
requirements despite Nadras website stating that
elders yesterday rejected Nawaz Sharifs compensation
gender identification would be assigned simply as per
for the victims, saying they want to be recognised as
applicants appearance or desire. Moreover, many are
human beings first.
unable to prove their lineage, having been disowned by
their biological families.
Self-preservation is a poor excuse for the chief
executive of any country to desist from visiting a scene
Abandoned, feared, ostracised or simply ignored, the
of such terrible carnage as was visited upon so many
communitys gains in light of such circumstances have
Pakistani citizens last week in Parachinar. Imran
been Herculean. Increased visibility and recognition
Khan, who has been fulminating about the prime
have not come without cost, however, as reports last
minister not visiting the area, has not yet done so
year suggest an uptick of violence against transgender
either. Considering he has been urging the merger of
persons. The system has failed many from Alisha,
Fata with KP where his party is in power, it would
shot at and left to die in a hospital while her treatment
have, at the very least, made political sense to be seen
was debated, to HIV-positive Dewani, who died of
commiserating with the victims. Those aspiring to
exposure in a garbage dump after being abandoned.
national leadership must demonstrate their
Enabling the transgender community to exercise their
determination to fight terrorism not only through
rights healthcare, education, employment,
words but by their actions as well. Standing up to
inheritance and political representation requires
extremism, however, also requires an unflinching
inclusive policies, affirmative action, a compassionate
acknowledgement of realities. Downplaying the role of
review of prohibitive processes and sensitisation of
sectarianism in the attack that took place in an
public service providers, from healthcare workers to
overwhelmingly Shia-majority area, as the military
law-enforcement officers. Attitudes must shift towards
leadership seems to be doing, does not make it less so.
upholding the rights of all, including transgender,
The claim of responsibility by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al-
Pakistanis.
Almi, one of the most violent extremist groups in
Pakistan that openly flaunts its gruesome record of
sectarian killings, leaves no doubt of the motive, if
there ever was any. Sectarianism is the very bedrock
upon which much of the extremist violence in Pakistan
is based. Obfuscating the fact does not promote social
harmony: it merely adds to the disaffection and
bitterness of those who know well why they are being
repeatedly targeted.
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
IHK: questionable US
action
Editorial
BETWEEN the ignorance of US President Donald
Trump and the malicious agenda of Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, a preposterous decision has
been taken. On Monday, hours before Mr Trump
hosted Mr Modi in the White House, the US State
Department listed Syed Salahuddin, a Pakistan-based
Kashmiri separatist leader, as a specially designated
global terrorist. Indian memories may be short, and
Mr Trumps non-existent, when it comes to the people
of India-held Kashmir and Salahuddin in particular,
but the IHK-born leader is the very symbol of Indias
failed policies in Kashmir. Before India came to know
Syed Salahuddin as a so-called terrorist, he was, in the
1980s, a young aspiring politician from Budgam in the
Kashmir Valley. And much as the current Indian
government has tried to cast him as a present-day
menacing figure and lobbied the UN to have him
declared a terrorist, his continuing influence in the
disputed Kashmir region is far from clear.
What Mr Trump and his administration have
succeeded in doing, however, is making clear to the
people of IHK that they do not matter. Suffering a spell
of fresh and severe repression since the popular
protests over the killing of Burhan Wani last July, the
plight of the people of IHK did not merit a mention in
any of the official statements or discussions between
the Indian and US sides. It is as if they do not exist and
the self-proclaimed worlds largest democracy is not
engaged in a daily, grotesque battle against unarmed
civilians. Historically, the US has encouraged Pakistan
and India to engage in dialogue on all disputes and
issues between the two countries. But that
encouragement is now meaningless if the US aligns
itself with India on the Kashmir dispute.
For Pakistan, the challenge remains the same:
mobilising world opinion against the violent Indian
agenda in IHK. Whether it is the dysfunction in civil-
military relations, the intransigence of the security
establishment or the reluctance of the PML-N
government, Pakistan has been unable to adapt its
approach to India in the Modi era. Perhaps this
countrys own fraught history with militancy has made
the outside world more sceptical of Pakistans claims
when it comes to IHK, but the gross human rights
abuses in the held territory are not a figment of
Pakistani imagination. Right-minded and sensible
sections of Indian society, too, are horrified by the
treatment that has been catalogued in countless video
recordings and testimonies to have trickled out of IHK.
Thirty years ago, Syed Salahuddin was denied victory
in a massively rigged election in IHK. That rigged
election helped trigger an insurgency against Indian
rule. Thirty years on, India has re-embraced the idea
that Kashmir can be crushed. But the only thing that
may have changed is that the consequences of Indian
oppression may be tragically worse.
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
The bourgeois trap
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
LETs get this straight: the last few days of Ramazan
see death and destruction in Quetta, Parachinar and
Bahawalpur reflecting the states utter failure to
protect the life and liberty of its citizens and our Eid
gift is an announcement by the highest state
functionaries that their top priority is the security of
Chinese lives and property.
Cue outrage amongst the educated public? Not quite.
We know that Pakistani officialdom has always been
obsessed with security and that the state both our
own and others to whom we are even more loyal has
generally been considered far more worthy of
defending than the people that are nominally the
subject of public policy. But where, in this story, is the
heroic bourgeoisie that provides leadership in society?
The history of the Western nation-state is, indeed, the
history of the bourgeoisie. We read about this class
fighting for liberation from feudalism, the church and
the empire in the English, French and American
revolutions. The modern system of government
featuring the rule of law and the immutable rights of
every individual citizen is widely known as bourgeois
democracy.
Where is the heroic bourgeoisie
that provides leadership?
A deeper reading of history confirms that the
bourgeoisie has contributed far less to the
establishment of democratic institutions in society
than the working class, former slaves, women and
other segments originally excluded from citizenship
in the polity. Ironically, this explains why large
numbers of people in Western societies internalised
bourgeois values and contemporary Western states
can be considered somewhat answerable to the
people.
The bourgeois story in Pakistan and other post-
colonial countries is even more tortured. To this
day, democratic values have not been internalised by
the educated segments of society. They may not
accept it at face value, but Pakistans bourgeoisie
remains committed to caste (let alone class) privilege,
is generally contemptuous of the backward masses,
and has little patience for the messiness of democracy.
These attitudes can be traced to the colonial genesis of
the polity. The native bourgeoisie was junior partner to
the British if not employed by the state it thrived in
private occupations such as law and medicine. Even
when this native bourgeoisie decided it wanted self-
rule, it remained largely committed to the bureaucratic
paternalism that was the hallmark of the Raj. The
brown sahib replaced the gora sahib and the rest is
history.
There are variations in the story the Indian
bourgeoisie institutionalised a form of democracy
while its Pakistani counterpart remained stubbornly
faithful to (military) authoritarianism. But the long-
term process of democratisation of society is far from
complete in either country, and the bourgeoisie is
largely responsible.
The truth is that privileged classes in society can never
be expected to willingly relinquish their privilege. As
suggested, the process of democratisation in Europe,
North America and other advanced societies (read:
white settler colonies) is explained by the struggles of
the downtrodden who demanded their share from a
bourgeoisie that was content to keep democracy
within respectable limits. These societies continue to
be blighted by racism, patriarchy and classism and the
struggle for democratisation continues.
In the subcontinent, this struggle is even more urgent;
arguably the single biggest imperative is to critically
question the notion that the bourgeoisie is always a
progressive force. To the contrary, it is indirectly
responsible for the rise of right-wing extremism and its
continuing appeal, despite the claims of the educated
segments that they represent the major resistance to
millenarian ideologies.
These ideologies have proliferated precisely because
they promise alongside eternal salvation
opportunities for upward mobility, opportunities that
the bourgeoisie has for the most part been unwilling to
concede to any social strata other than its own.
Indeed, a certain segment of the bourgeoisie has itself
been the face of extremism. Take the highly educated
leaderships of right-wing groups like the BJP and
Jamaat-i-Islami. Thus we now have a society in which
the bourgeoisie itself is divided; on the one hand are
the self-styled liberals whose lineage can be traced to
the (Western) modernists of the colonial era; on the
other are numerically preponderant conservatives who
wish for Pakistan to conform to the ideals of the
khilafat (and India to Hindu raj).
Both factions claim to speak for the people, but,
instead, are committed to an authoritarian state and
capitalist globalisation, unwilling to lead a process of
democratisation which could involve surrendering at
least some of their privilege. It is easy to claim to be
the vanguard of an ideal while living in luxury in
Lahore or Karachi, as peripheries like Parachinar burn.
Those who recognise the need for substantial social
change would be better off eschewing the myth of
bourgeois leadership once and for all.
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University,
Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
Showing gratitude
Nikhat Sattar
The writer is a freelance contributor with an interest in
religion.
WE seem to be perpetually overwhelmed by pressures.
Concerns about work, the state of our society, our
health, the education of our children and their better
future, etc occupy much of our waking hours.
Whether the boss has been favouring our colleagues
over us or whether our spouse is spending frivolously,
we find ourselves caught in day-to-day squabbles and
frustrations.
If one was to sit down and attempt to measure just
how much time and energy is spent on complaining,
one might be in for a surprise.
We take what we have for
granted and do not give a
thought to what might happen
if we are deprived of our
possessions.
It would be worthwhile to spend some time counting
the things we possess that we should be thankful for.
Life in itself is beautiful.
Despite all the pain and difficulties around and within
us, no one would willingly face death. And yet, while
we are alive and well, we hardly give a thought to the
kindness that makes us functioning, healthy human
beings.
The Quran mentions gratitude and thankfulness as one
of the major attributes of the faithful.
The blessings of God are so numerous that, were we to
give all our moments to thanking Him, we would not
be able to do justice to His favours. But rarely do we
spend even a few seconds on this. ... Any who is (so)
grateful does so to the profit of his own soul: but if any
is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of all wants, Worthy of
all praise (31:12).
Appreciating the good things, however small they may
seem, and thanking God for them brings within our
soul satisfaction and the ability not only to be happy
but also to spread happiness around us. God has no
need for our gratitude; we need to give thanks to Him
so that we can find tranquillity and happiness within
ourselves. Failure to do so hardens ones soul and
makes it impervious to truth and peace.
We often take what we have for granted and do not
give a second thought to what might happen were our
possessions to be taken away from us.
The senses we possess, our intellect and education, our
skills and abilities, the love of our parents, the magic
and beauty of the world around us, our ability to
appreciate good food, music, art ... the list is endless
and yet, nothing came to us through our own effort.
God has granted to us all that is in our lives ... And He
gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and
feeling (and understanding): little thanks do ye give!
(32:9).
Even when one is less complacent and gives thanks in
better times, one begins to whine and complain about
ones misfortunes as soon as one faces problems. We
lose sight of all the favours that still surround us and
the blessings that were with us a while ago. We also
forget that God has promised those who remember
Him that He will never forsake them. And it is He
Who made the Night and the Day to follow each other:
for such as have the will to celebrate His praises or to
show their gratitude (25:62). The night here
signifies sorrows and pain which God lifts by sending
the light of the day and provides humans the
opportunity to change their fortunes.
The trial and test of humans comes when they are able
to show gratitude during difficulties; when they
remember how merciful God has been to them in the
past and put their trust in Him for their future.
This attitude of always being positive, thanking their
Creator in whatever circumstances they may find
themselves and making efforts to improve their
condition is what one should cultivate if one is to live a
life of fulfilment and closeness to God.
Gratitude or thankfulness is a quality one must also
demonstrate towards fellow humans. Others help us
daily in so many ways, big and small. Yet, it is rare that
we find the time to thank them.
Thanking others is a precursor to thanking God: the
Prophet (PBUH) is believed to have said: He has not
thanked Allah who has not thanked people.(Sunan
Abi Dawud 4811).
Gratitude to and faith in God are two sides of the same
coin. If one has faith in God and His mercy, one must
necessarily be thankful to Him in all circumstances, as
Hazrat Ayub (AS) was, even when he was afflicted with
the worst physical pain and sorrow.
If one is grateful to God and has faith in His
compassion, reward will come naturally. Surah
Rahman sums it up beautifully by listing some of Gods
blessings: Then which of the favours of your Lord will
ye deny? (55:13)
The writer is a freelance contributor with an interest
in religion.
nikhat_sattar@yahoo.com
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
When the toughs get
going
Ashaar Rehman
The writer is Dawns resident editor in Lahore.
THE last word is back. The last word never left us.
When a renowned analyst wrote with finality under the
glaring banner The party is over, the first suspect
which fitted the headline perfectly had to be the PPP.
The PPP is losing muscle by the day and stands as an
emaciated, ghostly heir to its former robust self in
Punjab. An ever-grinning Mr Zardari at the helm of a
ship that is fast sinking is an image frequently invoked
to show anger since all other human expressions,
crafted to convey ideas or advice about reform,
renewal and resurrection, have been rendered
redundant. But in case the anger has to be
proportionally divided between Mr Zardari and his
partners, who are now ditching the party, a railway
platform can perhaps supply a more telling analogy.
Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Dr Babar Awan, the exalted
members of the Zardari inner circle. They are like
passengers who had arrived with tickets to travel in
one direction but since that train got cancelled, they
decided that it was okay for them to use the
momentum that had brought them to the rail station
to take another train to another destination.
It is being predicted that the
curtains will be drawn on the
current instalment of
democratic rule by the time the
country completes the 70th
year of its existence.
This may not be a popular explanation these days, not
in the camp of those who have been handpicked by fate
to take part in one the greatest revolutions on earth.
Nor is the PPP actually the party that has been flashed
the ominous over sign. The PPP is an old story done
to death many times over. The over refrain actually
predicts the outward journey of those in power in
Islamabad and Lahore.
It is being predicted that the curtains will be drawn on
the current instalment of democratic rule by the time
the country completes the 70th year of its existence.
The pundits are firm in their assertion, even if not
many of them want to come up with a precise
chronology of events leading to the impending ouster.
Quite often the explanation offered is: when its over it
is over. Did not similar forecasts in the past always
prove to be true? Was not Ms Benazir Bhutto once
dismissed in the month of August? Was not her father
ousted in July? Why cant others be subjected to the
same fate in the same months?
The explanations may sometimes leave laypersons like
you and me craving. We can try and quench our search
with whatever clues that emerge from the ongoing
probe by the joint investigation team (JIT) in the wake
of the Panama Papers leaks. The tone, it would appear,
points to a countdown to the exit simultaneously
under way, somewhere, even if the body language of
those who have been marked defected one more time
continues to defy the farewell chorus.
More evidence is piled up about the inefficiency of the
PML-N leadership. Theres Parachinar and then there
is Bahawalpur. There is, of course, the large gap in the
way the two incidents are treated. The prime minister
and the Punjab chief minister were booed for the time
they were away from Bahawalpur and they faced
criticism verging on taunts after they arrived at the site
of the blaze, whereas the elder Sharif has been taken to
task over the no-show in Parachinar.
This would fuel the talk about him being made to slip
down fast, and a confirmation of the danger is
provided by his own words that portray him as having
scant respect for the JIT. The word countdown has
been used with so much authority that it would mean
the time for any remedial measures has gone. But
surely, there will be something that could still be
saved?
If the situation is as grim as is being painted, the best
advice that can be given to politicians up against it is
that they should stand firmly by and under the shade
of their party. This is a difficult piece of advice in the
case of Pakistan since the group at the top is populated
by not your everyday party workers but a coterie
comprising friends and relatives. The circle turns
narrower if an exit is imminent and the outgoing
incumbent happens to be carrying the doubts and
suspicions drawn from previous forced departures.
The party is not worth saving since there was not too
much of a party to begin with. The focus of the internal
damage-control machinery has to be on some other
vital part. Shall we say that for a long-winded, totally
uninhibited family affair such as this, premium should
be on keeping these close relationships intact?
A lot has been written in the recent past about the
strains emerging in the Sharif household, which is kind
of unfortunate. In or out of government, this is one
tradition whose discontinuation will cause quite a lot
of discomfort. People may have their issues with the
Nawaz-Shahbaz combine, but that doesnt take away
from the fact that this is one partnership that best
symbolises a solid relationship on the basis of the
partners respect for and understanding of each others
desires and strengths. That recollection is worth
protecting.
It is quite like a duo formed by two classical-singer
brothers complementing each other even when each
member of the unit has grown on his own. Nawaz has
grown deep and is not as open to interpretation as he
was when he truly emerged in public at the time of the
1985 polls, accompanied by that vast fleet of vehicles
used to ferry voters and those huge bundles of qeema
walay naan.
Shahbaz has expanded, having exchanged his striped
government office shirt beneath the tie and jacket for
khaddar under his various hats. Either one or the other
must have caused people you and me included
much consternation on many occasions, but they do
make up a model that is worth keeping and emulating
every once in a while. Let the two fade out if they must,
together, as one whole. A breakup will leave us poorer
by one good tradition.
The writer is Dawns resident editor in Lahore.
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
An educational chasm
Faisal Bari
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of
Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate
professor of economics at Lums, Lahore.
I WAS visiting government high schools for girls in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for some research work. At each
school, I would ask the head teacher if I could have an
opportunity to interact with the students of grades
9/10.
At a Peshawar school, I asked Grade 9 students what
they wanted to be when they finished their education.
Some wanted to be doctors or teachers, a few wanted
to be engineers, and one student wanted to be a pilot.
The girls had a fair idea of what they would have to do,
beyond school education, to get where they wanted to
be.
While we were having this conversation, their teacher,
a young and fairly recently recruited science graduate,
started talking: All of these girls come from very poor
economic and social backgrounds. Many of them are
first-time Grade 9 students in their families, their
mothers are mostly illiterate, and even the fathers of
many are barely literate. Then she started pointing to
some of the girls her father is a daily wage earner,
her father sells fruit in the local area and her father is
unemployed these days. I had to quickly find a polite
and respectful way of stopping her from continuing.
The issue of social distance
between students and teachers
at government schools must be
addressed.
It was clear from the way the teacher referred to the
families and the economic and social background of
the students that she felt the students came from a
much lower background than she did.
This experience, of social distance between teachers
and students in government schools, was repeated at a
number of schools as I travelled across five to six KP
districts. A few months later, I had the same
experience when I visited a number of government
primary and secondary schools for boys in a couple of
districts of Punjab.
Teachers and head teachers in government schools
generally believe that their schools get the poorest of
poor children, that these children come from
households where parents are not likely to be very
educated or do not have a good understanding or
appreciation of the value of education. They feel the
parents, as well as the children, have fairly limited
ambitions.
Many teachers also said that their own children were
not going to government schools and were enrolled in
nearby private schools; some teachers openly stated
that they did not want their own children to mix with
the students enrolled in their schools.
Our data does show that enrolment in the type of
school (public/private) and income levels is highly
correlated, and among many people from poorer
households it is the first generation that is going to
school, especially in the case of women.
As the private provision of schooling has expanded,
people who can afford it have chosen to send their
children to private schools. The trend of withdrawal
from public schools by the rich and middle classes
continues and is now reaching the rural areas of
Punjab, KP and some parts of Sindh as well.
All provincial governments have changed teacher-
recruitment policies in recent times. Entry
requirements for the teaching profession have been
raised to at least Bachelors level instead of
matriculation or intermediate, teacher salaries have
seen significant increases over the last 10 to 15 years,
and salary scales have also been revised.
We are getting more educated and trained teachers
who are better compensated and have better career
paths. All of this is positive. But there are unintended
consequences of policy changes as well. As we get more
educated people, the latter are more likely to come
from the urban rather than the rural areas.
More educated people are also likely to come from
households that had a higher income in the last
generation than households with lower educational
attainments today. Both these factors are likely to
further increase the social distance between teachers
and students.
We have to address this issue as it can undermine,
significantly, our ability to reach out to and retain
children from diverse backgrounds, especially those
from challenging backgrounds or those facing physical,
mental or learning problems. While continuing to
improve the condition of teachers, the problem of
social distance and its consequences should be
handled through better pre-service and in-service
training.

The policy of recruiting more educated teachers and

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute
compensating them at a higher level is a good one and
of Development and Economic Alternatives and an
should not be abandoned. But the issue of social
associate professor of economics at Lums, Lahore.
distance should be addressed. The best way to do this
is through changing the content and style of pre- Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017
service and in-service teacher training.

The former refers to the Bachelors or Masters level

degrees B. Ed./M. Ed. Courses relating to these
degrees should have a lot more content on managing
issues like social distance, the needs of children from
different backgrounds and students with a diversity of
abilities and potential. There should also be courses on
pedagogy techniques that should be employed to
manage diverse classrooms. These courses will provide
teachers who are training some tools to help them
relate better to students hailing from diverse
socioeconomic backgrounds.

In-service training, provided by government teachers

training departments in all provinces in the form of
induction training (at the start of ones career) and
continuous professional development (throughout
ones teaching career), can further consolidate the
introduction and ensure we have a way of imparting
modern techniques to teachers for the management of
diverse classrooms throughout their careers.

Improving the quality of education for our children

will require us to get more educated and better trained
teachers, to compensate them at higher levels,
incentivise and motivate them, and help them manage
their careers well. But this can, at the same time, result
in an increase in the socioeconomic and cultural
distance between teachers and students in public-
sector schools, especially in the rural areas.